SoftBank deploys $865M into construction startup Katerra

SoftBank’s latest investment in real estate tech comes in the form of an $865 million infusion into Katerra, the one-stop construction shop.

SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate, deployed the cash through its $100 billion Vision Fund.

Katerra will use the proceeds to expand its manufacturing operation — including adding new factories — and speed up deployment of its customer platform, in addition to research and development, according to a company release.

Rapidly expanding, the three-year-old Katerra said it has more than $1.3 billion in bookings for new construction contracts in multifamily, student housing and hospitality.

The company designs and builds its projects, sources its materials, and manufactures its own components at its Phoenix, Arizona, factory, according to the New York Times.

Katerra has a “roadmap in place” to expand its manufacturing outfit, and already broke ground on a timber factory in Washington state, according to a news release.

Former Flextronics International CEO Michael Marks founded the company and is its chairman. Nearly all of Katerra’s business until the middle part of last year came from Wolff Company, a real estate-focused private equity company run by Katerra co-founder Fritz Wolff, according to the Wall Street Journal.